What Do They Eat When They Can't Get Hobbit?

Across the pass and into the west side of the island, we drove on to Westport and then north on the coast road, 67, as far as it goes, past Karamea to the campground on the beach at Kohaihai. En route we spent the afternoon exploring the truly pristine forest at Operara, including what has to be one of the world's largest natural arches...hundreds of feet high and across. The bush-—these few square miles never logged—-was the main attraction, and we took a long hike back through it, marveling at the giant trees, the creeks, pools, falls, and the rest. It is indeed like another world.

The evening, after a grilled steak dinner, we spent on the beach, watching huge breakers, 8-10 feet, and waiting for the sun to set over the Tasman Sea. There were two or three other parties on the beach, as far as one could see. The surf was enormous and crashing and not at all inviting.

Today was also our first experience of the west side's legendary sand flies. Whatever curiosity we might have had about them was quickly satisfied. They are indeed Satan's spawn. We are bathing in DEET.

Tasman Sunset, North of Karamea

In Operara bush

Treebeard

Very large arch, Operara

But maybe the above arch was only the second level;
it rested on a larger arch through which passed this
creek...

Aloft

"...he seemed to hear the noise of dim waves and to see a winged form flying above the waves and slowly climbing the air...an ecstasy of flight made radiant his eyes and wild his breath and tremulous and wild and radiant his windswept limbs...". Ever since a try at para-sailing over Chamonix in 1993, I have had an interest in polyester-based aircraft, especially the motorized versions known as “micro-lights.” They are essentially hang-gliders with motors attached. Also a cockpit and wheels. Vicki saw an ad in an NZ paper and gave me a scenic flight (tandem, of course) in a micro-light for Christmas. Aviation is an essential part of tourism, especially adventure tourism, and the Mouteka airfield is easily identified by the number of gliders, skydivers, para-sailers, hang-gliders, stunt aircraft, and, yes, micro-lights, above it. Tasman Sky Adventures was the vendor—they are the only micro-light vendor in New Zealand—and on Monday I had a GREAT 45 minute ride, covering much of the tramp we did last week. Part of the flight was scenic, over incredible terrain, coastline, and sea, and part was about the craft itself, communication, how it's steered, maneuvered, etc. The take-off and climb surprised me with their quickness. We got to the cruising altitude of 1,000 feet in what seemed like a few seconds. We continued at that altitude for most of the flight, except for Bark Bay and inland a bit over the mountains, going to 3,000. Airspeed was generally 55-60mph. Low and slow, how I like it. The landing, on a grass strip, was very smooth. I can't say I was in heaven, but I was very close. Thanks, Vicki. Oh, the plane had a Rotax engine, like our snowmobile! After the micro-flight, we provisioned up at Motueka, and, having previously done the wash, repacked, etc., we set forth generally west/south-west, across the pass, and spent the night at a campground on the great Buller river, 15km out of Murchison. En route we drove way up a valley to see Mt. Owen, site of the Dimrill Dale.

Junior Birdman

Anchorage Bay

Bark Bay

Some boaties at a cove

Time and Tide

The really interesting part of the Abel Tasman, apart from the unspeakably gorgeous scenery throughout, is the tidal crossings. The tides here run 4-6 feet, and the Abel Tasman track crosses several estuaries--but only at low tide. Thus the AT tramper carefully reads the tidal charts and proceeds accordingly. Our first was Torrent Bay, about a quarter mile across. One looks at these bays and estuaries at high tide and thinks they are just more of the ocean, impassable on foot. Hours later, they are flat, wet, sandy expanses, populated by abundant marine life, mud crabs, clams, sea snails, and so on. One walks right across, trying to crunch as few shells as possible. All have rivulets that have to be forded, so at length one removes boots and puts on sandals or just goes barefoot. The largest of the crossings was at Awarua, which the Park describes as “dangerous,” but only outside the 4 hour low-tide window. It was about half a mile across. Conveniently, there were two low-tides per day, generally between 7 and 9 AM and then 7 and 9 PM. I don't think we ever lost a minute waiting for the tides. They don't wait for us, as is well known. We did have to get up a bit early for Onetahuti, which was in the middle of the day's tramp, but when you're in bed by 9:30 that's not a problem.

The days of hiking were relatively leisurely, 10-15 km, with hills less than 400 feet. Carrying a backpack on the beach gets a bit tiresome. It's interesting how the sand works a slightly different set of leg and hip muscles. On a couple days we arrived at the hut early enough for me to do an extracurricular hike, the most memorable of which was a couple miles to Awarua Lodge for a beer and a pizza, half of which I carried back to Vicki at the hut. We had had lunch at the Lodge earlier in the day, Angus ribeye for Vicki, and lamb for me, both excellent, especially for such a remote place. I also hiked out to Separation Point on our return from Whariwharangi to Totaranui, to see the seals. (See illustration). Vicki's shoulder held up fairly well through the five days, a little achey on Saturday, our longest day, but otherwise OK.

We are back in Motueka now (Monday morning), having spent the night at a motel here, washing, repacking etc. More high adventure this afternoon.

The Hut at Bark Bay

A Typical Abel Tasman Scene

Yearling Seal Frolicking in a Pool

A Water Taxi

Vicki adds:

January 5, 2009-- Motueka, South Island, New Zealand

We are just back from the 5 day Abel Tasman Tramp and it was spectacular. The scenery would remind you of what the California coast must have been 80 years ago—but with more tropical vegetation. It was exactly what one would expect Hawaii to be if you could get ¾ of the people not to go there. Here a crowded beach in mid afternoon would have 4-5 kayaks pulled ashore with perhaps 6-8 people actually on the beach itself. In the morning and after late afternoon most of the coves were deserted, especially in the far Northern areas. What really appealed to me were the waterfalls with granite boulders and wonderful pools—so if you wanted to take a dip without the salt you could. Of course the water is quite cold by a native Miamian standards, but for you who grew up swimming in the Flathead it would be fine.

New Zealand is such a beautiful place that Mark and I have quite fallen in love with it. If we didn't have so many ties back to the States, I think we would seriously think about moving here. Property costs about half to 2/3 of similar US because salaries are also lower. But even though most of you think we are quite adventurous, we are too timid to leave so many friends, family, and places we love behind. However, a six month trip back here after Europe would now be high on our agenda.

Mozzies, Boaties, and Turning Custard

The Abel Tasman National Park occupies a northern coastline and interior of the South Island. It is still temperate land, and the coast itself is alternating golden beach, rocky shore, bay, hillside, cliff, and the “bush,” with its incredibly clear streams, waterfalls, and pools, its fern trees and other tropical vegetation. The Abel Tasman coastal track winds 51km across all this, up and down, to and fro, sometimes forest, sometimes beach, sometimes low-tide estuary. The trails--”tracks”-- all but paved and hand-railed, are the best we have ever seen, including the Khumbu in Nepal, where the trails support commerce as well as recreation. We parked the Bongo at the Abel Tasman Aqua Taxi's carpark at Marahau and walked into the park, unceremoniously starting the trek—Kiwis call them “tramps”--up and down, into the bush, down a cliff, onto the beach, and back again. No photograph can convey the richness and diversity of the scenery throughout. We had generally good weather throughout, mostly sunny, one cloudy threatening day (custard), one rainy night. The Abel Tasman sees some 30,000 visitors a year, huge by NZ standards, its largest park. (Compare Yellowstone at 3MM). In the 60 or more km we walked, I saw not one piece of trash (“rubbish”), not a cigarette filter, nothing. Yet there are plenty of people around, mostly “boaties,” people arriving or traveling on their own boats and kayaks, and day visitors arriving and tramping via water taxi. The water taxis run nearly the length of the park, stopping at the major bays. You can ride them to any point, hike a bit, then return from another point. Or you can simply ship your backpack to a given site and from there to another site. Very civilized. We wanted to carry our own packs, so we eschewed all this but for the return trip from Whariwharangi (actually Totarnui) back to Marahau. The number of backpackers, such as we were, is strictly regulated by the campground and hut system. The huts, four of them, hold about 24 persons each, the campgrounds about the same. Traveling north, as we did, one sees pretty much the same people from hut to hut, and forms acquaintances. For foreigners, this is invaluable and endearing. The hut trampers are mostly Kiwis, families, couples, a few Australians, and a sprinkling of Americans, and other nationalities. (We spent three nights in the company of Elizabeth, a civil engineer from Belmont, CA.) The Kiwis were marvelous in explaining their ways and their land and in welcoming visitors. As we marched northward, we stayed at the Anchorage, Bark Bay, Awarua, and Whariwharangi huts. All were spartan but quite comfortable, double-deck platform beds with mattresses, a common cooking/eating area, bathrooms with flush toilets, showers (cold), filtered water, and more. Even the campgrounds had running water and flush toilets. We spent New Year's eve at the Anchorage hut, the first of the four huts on the tramp. In the hut, we were all in bed and asleep by 10. No electricity. The fireworks and celebrations on the beach, a few yards away (the boaties and campers), awoke Vicki a few minutes past midnight, but not me. I slept in the New Year. Oh, mozzies are mosquitoes, of which we saw few, but rather more sand flies, and a few ankle bites.

A Fall and Pool in the Bush Oyster Catchers, Always Seen in Pairs, One Hunting, One Guarding...  

Happy New Year, All

It's Tuesday afternoon, December 30th, and I am blogging from the public library in Motueka, South Island, where we are provisioning up for our Abel Tasman tramp. It begins tomorrow morning and will last five days, 50-some km of beach, cove, and a couple tidal crossings (the trail goes under at high tide). When we get to the end, January 4, we'll take the sea taxi back to the beginning where we are parking the Bongo. So, our next posting will be on or about January 4.

In the meantime, Happy New Year to all. We'll be in a hut somewhere along the Kaiteriteri coast, eating freeze-dried backpacker food, hopefully warm but neither sun-burned nor mosquito-eaten, and enjoying yet another adventure.

First Day on South Island

One Ring to Rule Them All... Our morning project, having debarked safely at Picton after a smooth voyage was swapping out campervans. The green Bongo's AC went out, could not be repaired, so they swapped us a black one. The swap-out took most of the morning, but at least afforded the opportunity to inventory stuff. We then drove off, stopping in beautiful Nelson, where Vicki visited the jeweler/goldsmith who made the One Ring. For lunch, we stopped at the Mussel Pot, in Havelock, the green shell mussel capital of the world. It was a great green mussel theme-restaurant. I was in heaven. We camped at the Bethany campground in Maiateriteri, near the start of the Abel Tasman. And finally got some sleep.

Sunrise on Cook Strait

New Improved Millennium Bongo

Note Roof Decor

Day in Wellington, Night at Sea

Our day in Wellington was good, several hours at Te Papa, the wonderful still new and technologically up-to-date national museum on the harbor; another LOTR site on Mt. Victoria; strolling the downtown, great used bookstores; then a dinner and a movie (Twilight; Vicki's idea). After the movie we walked back to the Waterloo Quay to catch our ferry to the South Island. This was the Santa Regina, departing Wellington Harbor at 3AM, arriving at Picton at 6:30. Very little sleep for either of us.

Part of Te Papa and the Wellington Harbor

I love museums with quirky collections...a corrugated car

The Good Ship Santa Regina

Folfing at Orthanc, in Isengard

Today we did a day tour with Wellington Movie Tours, seeing the various Wellington and Hutt River LOTR sites...Isengard, Rivendell, the shortcut to the mushrooms, the Weta Cave, Peter Jackson's studio complexes, and on and on, perhaps two dozen in all. Moving from site to site, we saw clips aboard the bus and then also via laptop clips in the field so you could see exactly how the site was done, filmed, etc. It was a great tour, highly recommended, and affordable too.

We're spending another day in Wellington, then ferrying late tonight to the South Island and Tuesday the first of our four NZ tramps, the Abel Tasman beach tramp, five days. We won't be posting much next week.

Boxing Day

Boxing Day is the day after Christmas, a legal holiday in NZ. We have asked perhaps a dozen Kiwis what it is that Boxing Day celebrates, and no one has even the slightest idea, not even a conjecture. (The Boxer Rebellion was it?). The whole nation remains en holiday, nonetheless, most everything closed, as on Xmas day. Few if any post-Xmas sales here, at least in the small towns. We thought the Thai and Nepalese were holiday-happy!

After breakfast at the campsite, we walked for an hour or so through the beach-side forest at Waitarere, more woodland scenes from LOTR, particularly TTT and ROTK. Waiterere is a government-owned but privately-managed forest. We have passed many such forests in our travels here—they are easily identified, commercially-viable trees, tall, straight, not the local weird stuff; in some cases immense forests with little undergrowth. Ideal for filming certain kinds of woodland scenes involving short people. The clear-cuts are immense too, the largest I have ever seen, including Oregon. We then drove on in the direction of Wellington. “Wellywood” as some now call it..

The Otaki Gorge of the River Hutt is said to be a beautiful place, up in the southern mountains, another place where a variety of LOTR scenes were shot, particularly from FOTR, so we cut off the main road there. It is an 18k drive, mostly on unsealed (gravel) one-lane road above the gorge. Initially, we thought we'd be the only people back that far from the beach, but, no, there were more than a hundred vehicles coming and going and parking at the tramp sites, the picnic sites, the campground sites,the fishing sites, the caretaker sites, etc. Boxing Day, mate. We barely saw the river and gorge, but the foliage en route, especially the green tunnel, was extraordinary.

From Otaki, actually from Levin, the northbound highway was bumper-to-bumper, Wellingtonians escaping to the northwestern beaches for the long holiday. Fortunately, the southbound lane was fairly open and free, and thus, after 40km or so, we entered gorgeous Wellington, the capital, on a bright and clear but not even warm afternoon. We are at the Apollo Motor Lodge, smack downtown, a few blocks from Te Papa, the national museum. Dinner is store-bought New World roast chicken with salad and Xmas pudding and cream custard. Yum. Mussels from the pictured bin tomorrow night. I am not sure what Vicki will have.

Today we did a day tour with Wellington Movie Tours, seeing the various Wellington and Hutt River LOTR sites...Isengard, Rivendell, the shortcut to the mushrooms, the Weta Cave, Peter Jackson's studio complexes, and on and on, perhaps two dozen in all. Moving from site to site, we saw clips aboard the bus and then also via laptop clips in the field so you could see exactly how the site was done, filmed, etc. It was a great tour, highly recommended, and affordable t

Watch out for Orcs!

Approaching Welllington on the M1

That's 75 cents a pound for these puppies!

Kiwi Christmas

Merry Christmas to all from Whakapapa!

Our Christmas began with sleeping in (indoors, no less), exchange of modest presents (mostly camping and trekking stuff; “here, give me this for Xmas”), and then a nice cooked English/NZ hotel Xmas breakfast. We skyped with Rebecca and Rachel, with whom we had not talked in some time (nice to hear of them carrying on the traditions), then posted nearly 2 weeks of blogs, packed up and left Whakapapa. Happily, the volcanos of Mordor, I mean, Tongariri National Park, did not erupt nor explode during our visit. See illustration.

It has been a memorable Xmas. As I wrote earlier, it is our first in 40 years by ourselves, no family, extended nor otherwise. Not a trend we want to establish. We are used to warm climate Xmases, being from Miami—white Xmases are still a novelty—but it is a little difficult thinking of Xmas in the summer, which is what it is here. School's just out, the summer holidays are here, and caravans and backpackers are everywhere. Oh well. It's beautiful and festive enough. And the NZ Christmas trees (patutpikawa, or takupakawa, or tapoketa-tapoketa) are something special.

We drove on south and southwest to Tawhai Falls, site of several scenes from The Two Towers, Smeagol's fishing holes, among others. (Did I mention I visited the national trout fishing museum yesterday, near Lake Taupo? quite impressive). Then on further to Ohutu, from which some of the Anduin, the Great River, scenes were shot. OK, it's the Rangitikei, not the Anduin. The gorge through which the Rangitikei river passes is pretty spectacular. The actual site is now a bungy jump, of course, allegedly the highest on the North Island. The site itself was closed, it being Xmas Day, so I did not do the jump. As if.

From there we drove on to Waitarere, near Foxton, on the southwestern beach of the North Island, the Kapiti coast, and have camped at a small private campground. We bypassed Palmerston North, one of Missoula's sister cities. I did take a shot, at least, of the road sign. We have seriously underestimated the North Island and have had to really rush through it. A couple months here would be good. Next time. In some ways, I am glad I have visited this place relatively late in life. Earlier I might well have wanted to come here permanently.

The terrain as we drive is ever changing and ever interesting. After miles of river and hills and mountains, the last score of kilometers were relatively flat agricultural land, and now the giant dunes and beaches and forests emerge again. Dinner, en Bongo, was left-over Xmas fondue.

Christmas Eve in Mordor

From Matamata we drove on further into the center of the island. I have written little so far of the diversity of this place...flora and fauna, geography, culture, and the rest. It really is beyond belief. In the north of the island, you would think you were in England. OK, there are no Norman churches, nor castles, nor hill forts. But there are beautiful small towns, rolling green hills, dotted with woods here and there, and sheep and sheep and more sheep, and also lots of dairy cattle. When you look at the woods more closely, however, you begin to see fern trees, Kauri trees, radial pines, and many other sorts of vegetation that don't belong in England. And although there are no hill forts nor castles, many, many of the hills are terraced. At first, we thought we were looking at something like Mt. Dumbo in Missoula, where the terraces resulted from varying shorelines of glacial lake Missoula. But here the terraced hills are all over the island, some right on the sea. It turns out these are remnants of Maori hill villages, fortifications, ramparts, staircases, and the rest. The extent of the works is more than impressive.

The northern half of the island, such as we saw, was bays and beaches, and harbors and islands, and beautiful green rolling hills and forests. In the interior now, at a place called Whakapapa, we are in the mountainous volcanic zone of the northern island, just west of an enormous caldera/lake. From Matamata west, one is in a seismic zone comparable to Yellowstone, geysers and mudpots, and the like, but all towered over by three snow-capped and active volcanoes. We are at a hotel at the foot of Mt. Ruapehu (about 8,000 feet), which last erupted in 1995. (The largest volcanic explosion in recorded history occurred here in AD 181, creating the giant Lake Taupo.) This afternoon we drove up to the ski area above Whakapapa, where a variety of scenes from LOTR were shot, most notably some of those from Mordor and Emyn Muil. The rain and mist have stayed all day, and only added to the gloomy and forbidding sense of the place.

Family and friends will be relieved to know that, despite the surroundings, we are having as much of a traditional Christmas as is possible. We don't recall ever having a Christmas just the two us, in forty or more years. However, we bought and decorated a small Bongo-sized (artificial) Christmas tree, we have bought and wrapped small presents for each other, and we have even had the traditional Christmas eve fondue dinner, the cheese and chocolate courses anyway.

Vicki adds:

Christmas Eve, 2008—Mordor—Tongariro National Park, New Zealand

Yes, we are in Mordor and this afternoon walked the path that Frodo, Sam and Gollum took out of Emyn Muil and into Mordor. Yesterday, I walked through Bilbo Baggins door at Bag End and took the first step “out the door” and onto The Road Goes Ever On. I had my picture made in front of the Party Tree and collected bark from the oak that grew from the top of Bag End. I am in Hobbit heaven and having a very Merry and unforgettable Christmas. What is missing is sharing it with family and friends. When I bought the cheese for our Christmas Eve fondue today, I wished the deli clerk a Merry Christmas and started crying. But we are having a good Christmas.

We have a tiny tree that was strapped down in the van and tonight we are in a hotel (the highest in New Zealand) on the flanks of a volcano with two more right next door. We have moved the tree onto the tv set and laid out the presents. For dinner we clandestinely made cheese fondue on our one burner stove and then chocolate fondue with fruit. We have also managed to squeeze in watching half of Christmas Vacation on our Ipod and a quick trip to the hot tub. After presents and a hotel breakfast in the morning we head off for Ohakune to see Ithilien and part of the River Anduin. We have a very busy next three days leaving the Shire and visiting Wellington before we take the ferry to the South Island and start our first 5 day trek along the coastline at Abel Tasmin Park.

I am very behind in my blog as we only allowed 2 weeks for the North Island and it needs about 2 months. We have been camping most nights and sightseeing and driving from early in the morning to late in the evening. There has been lots of light since as you know, December 21st is the longest day of the year! Having summer in December takes a lot of getting used to even for native Floridians.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. Vicki

Hobbiton

We broke camp at the Russell Top 10 Tuesday morning and drove, at length (we've got to get a proper map), to Matamata, more in the center of the island, and to...Hobbiton. As our friends and family well know, we are Tolkien fans, and part of the attraction of New Zealand was the filming of The Lord of the Rings here in the late 90s. The Hobbiton scenes were filmed on a sheep ranch outside Matamata, now open to the public, for a price, and Tuesday afternoon found us riding the “Gandalf” bus with a couple dozen or so others out to see the site and the remains of Bag End, Bag Shot Row, the Party Tree, and so on. It's all a long story, what remains of the set, what New Line Cinema has permitted, what the owners of the farm can do, but, for Students of the Lore, it was a great and special experience, standing where Gandalf and Bilbo blew smoke rings, where Bilbo made his farewell speech, where Pippin and Merry set off the fireworks, the actual stone steps leading down from the door....

In the evening, we went to Mitia, a Maori village/tribe experience, dinner and a show that was actually very well done. The dinner was traditional, steamed in a below-ground oven, lamb, chicken, sweet potato, etc., and the cultural show and tour informative, respectful, and fun.

In a driving rain, we stayed at yet another Holiday Park. Fortunately, the Bongo does not leak.

Bag End

The Party Tree and Lake at Hobbiton, from Bag End

Sailing the Bay of Islands

Monday we signed onto a “tall ship” cruise on the Bay of Islands. The tall ship was the “Good Ship R. Tucker Thompson,” an 85 foot schooner. The Tucker is a non-profit enterprise, taking tourists like us out into the bay for a day's ride and training young people in the arts of sailing. The captain was assisted by four trainees and a cook, but they all seemed to know what they were doing, keeping the civilians entertained (aaargh...) and involved in the various coiling and coming about, etc. We sailed several miles out into the bay, which indeed has some 200 hundred islands, enjoying scones and tea in the morning, putting in at a cove, walking the beach and climbing a hill, and then returning to the Tucker for a grilled pork and chicken lunch. The day was enhanced by conversations with a Wellington couple who patiently answered all our many questions about Kiwis and New Zealand.

Cape Reingal to Russell Island

Sunday morning we drove from Tapotupotu to Cape Reingal. The latter is situated on a high bluff jutting into the sea, with a 19th century lighthouse overlooking a great 270 degree view. From the lighthouse's signposts, we were able to discern that we were still much closer to the equator than the south pole, something of a disappointment. Oh well, we still have much further south to go.

Our route took us back south, to a couple of stops along the forbidding 90-mile beach and its giant sand dunes, and then past Doubtless Bay, then Kaipapa, and lastly, via another ferry, to Russell Island, a very scenic and comfortable little island community in the Bay of Islands. We dined at Gannett's, where I had an extraordinary mussel chowder (coconut milk, saffron, ginger, lemon-grass, and mussel reduction) and then a plate of steamed mussels. The chef, a German, came out to see who was eating all the mussels.

Sunday morning we drove from Tapotupotu to Cape Reingal. The latter is situated on a high bluff jutting into the sea, with a 19th century lighthouse overlooking a great 270 degree view. From the lighthouse's signposts, we were able to discern that we were still much closer to the equator than the south pole, something of a disappointment. Oh well, we still have much further south to go.

Our route took us back south, to a couple of stops along the forbidding 90-mile beach and its giant sand dunes, and then past Doubtless Bay, then Kaipapa, and lastly, via another ferry, to Russell Island, a very scenic and comfortable little island community in the Bay of Islands. We dined at Gannett's, where I had an extraordinary mussel chowder (coconut milk, saffron, ginger, lemon-grass, and mussel reduction) and then a plate of steamed mussels. The chef, a German, came out to see who was eating all the mussels.

Northwest Coast

Saturday morning we drove back south through Dargaville and then Te Kopuru. One of our guidebooks had mentioned a home in Te Kopuru which the residents had decorated entirely in buoys and ballcocks, something we had to see. After Dargaville, we visited the great Kauri forests on the coast. The Kauri are enormous trees, mostly all gone, but preserved in a few places, especially in the northwest. We walked to the largest known Kauri, a hugh tree, and got a chance to experience a bit of the “bush.” The rest of the day we spent driving north along beaches and bays, ferrying from Hokiana to Kohukothu, and then further north through Kaitaia, a nice town, and then on to the farther northern shore, the 90-mile beach, toward Cape Reingal, the North Island's northernmost point. We spent the night camped on the beach at Tapotupotu Bay, grilling steaks we had bought in Auckland. The whole northwest coast is very sparsely settled.

To Baily's Beach

Typical Weird New Zealand Tree

Friday, we spent the morning sorting and provisionally arranging the camper. From the Top 10 Friday morning we wandered west to the coast and had lunch on the beach, at Karekare, I think. The northwest coast is largely beach and bay...enormous beaches and bays. The beach sand is sometimes grey (volcanic) and sometime white, mostly white. The bays are estuary-like, connected to rivers. Our route took us around Kaipura Harbor, north, then west, then north again to Dargaville. We spent the night at another Top 10, this time at Baily's Beach. At this point, the beaches start getting enormous, many miles long, many hundreds of feet wide. No settlements or habitations. The tide is only a few feet, and, at low tide, a 4-wheel vehicle (not the Bongo) can drive for miles and miles.

Think Left

Bongo and Me at Tapotupotu

I say we “boldly set forth” because in New Zealand, a Commonwealth sort of place, when driving a car, you sit on the right but drive on the left. The layout of the instruments, controls, etc., is thus reversed, except that the accelerator and brake pedals are in the “right” places. It is difficult to adjust to, although I have done it many times before. This is, however, the first time I have done it in the “upside down” part of the world. I will comment later on the many other aspects of NZ that are confusing to me. When driving now I often fell that my head is going to explode.

Millennium Bongo

On Thursday, after more shopping and the inevitable returns, we packed, checked out of the hotel, and picked up our “camper.” It is really an eight-passenger Mazda van, an older model diesel, with a roof that raises and houses a bed, like the old VW campers. (We owned two). The theory is we will store all our gear below and sleep in the “loft” above, cooking, etc., outside. It might work, except for stealth camping.

This model of Mazda is know as the Mazda Friendee Bongo (sic). Among our previous camping vehicles was a Falcon van, a really nice fully-equipped Class B that we owned when we lived in Dallas. I dubbed it the “Millennium Falcon,” after Han Solo's starship. We will have the Mazda for 6 weeks here or more, worthy of a name, so I have dubbed it the “Millennium Bongo,” or “Bongo,” if you're into the whole brevity thing.

Following slight delays with the rental agency (replacing the Bongo's dead battery), we boldly set forth from Parnell (central Auckland) to a shopping center in the southern suburbs, Silva Park, where, we were told, a store called “The Warehouse” could provide us with various things needed for van camping (table, chairs, ice chest, etc). The Warehouse proved a great disappointment—a Walmart would have been perfect (for once)--but we managed there and at a supermarket where we provisioned up. Then we boldly set forth back across Auckland to the north shore, where, at length, we stayed at a Top 10 Holiday Park, in a very spartan motel room, since the camper was not yet habitable.

First Days in New Zealand

Our first several days in New Zealand were in Auckland on the North Island. Auckland is the big city, a million and a half—the whole nation is only 4 million—and our hotel, the Auckland City Hotel, is downtown, on Hobson St., 3 blocks north of the main downtown shopping area, Queen St. The hotel is an older 1912 structure, but very recently modernized and re-done. Somehow we got upgraded to a suite, US$46 a night. The Sky City Tower (300m space needle/bungy jump) is a block away. It's hard not to like a country. where sheep outnumber humans 19:1, and there are bungy jumps at every major intersection. Bungy is the original spelling here in NZ, where the sport originated and was perfected. New Zealanders invented adventure tourism, we understand. And bungy-jumping is now considered unremarkable, here.

We cruised the downtown shopping area on Tuesday, getting oriented...lots of interesting stores and shops, including an unusually high number of bookstores and “second-hand” bookstores. The two gear shops, Bivouac and Kathmandu, were having their Christmas sales, so we began such camper-outfitting as was needed immediately. Both Vicki and I also purchased shirts, increasing the size of our wardrobes by a third. We also looked into devices for connecting the laptop to the internet while on the road and camping. They are expensive, and it is unclear they'd work elsewhere (e.g., the US and Europe), so we have decided to rely on free wifi, cyber-cafes and campground computers. Not as convenient, but at least affordable. Dinner was at Mezze, a middle-eastern sort of restaurant, where I began my personal assault on the NZ green lip mussel population. They are even larger, tenderer, tastier, on their home ground (as it were).

On our second full day, we took the ferry to Devonport, a touristy old town on an island in the harbor—it is a huge complicated harbor—and climbed Mt. Victoria, an old volcano remnant, a whole 90m high, for the view. Unfortunately, the view was mostly of the incoming squall. But Auckland has a beautiful skyline, especially from the water, with all the marinas and sails. It is called “The City of Sails.” From what we have read, 1 in every 4 Aucklanders owns a boat. Main street in Devonport had three 2nd-hand bookstores, and the pier had two. Lunch was pulled-pork bar-b-q in a joint owned by a Pennsylvania native.

We ferried back to Auckland and then took the bus to the Auckland Museum, a beautiful old structure set on a hill in the Domain overlooking the city. The Museum is known for its Maori and general Polynesian collections, and also its war memorial collections, including a Zero and an Spitfire (two aiircraft, I submit, that never met in war). The Maori stuff was incredible, in diversity and size and intricacy. The hundred-warrior canoe was especially impressive. Even more impressive was the tree from which it apparently was dug-out. Dinner was at a crepes place a block from the hotel. Auckland appears to have just about every conceivable cuisine.

Sold on Sydney

We had a marvelous 2 and 1/2 days in Sydney. Friday evening we braved the torrential rain and wind to eat at a nearby hamburger joint...real hamburgers, made from—we are sure—cows, something we had been dreaming of for weeks. We are still luxuriating in drinking actual tap water, brushing our teeth in it, not wondering what the next toilet will be like.... And we also are enjoying shopping, being able to evince interest in something without being assaulted by the shopkeeper, his minions and family members, extended relatives, touts, assorted hangers-on, passers-by, et al., all extolling its virtues, its low asking price (generally three times what they'll settle for). But I digress.

Our Saturday was entirely on foot in “downtown” Sydney. The Y Hotel is just west of Hyde Park, and so we set forth through the gorgeous park, noting the huge ficus trees, Norfolk Island pines, and others, statues, fountains, and people on family outings. Also museums, government houses, the Cathedral, and more. Hyde Park took us into The Domain, another park. There we visited the Art Museum of New South Wales, then continued on our way past the Domain and into our major goal for the day, the Royal Botanical Garden.

Sydney is a city of 3 or so million ranged around a long narrow harbor, filled with coves, inlets, harborettes, beaches, cliffs, and so on. There are huge CBDs on both sides of the main harbor, beautiful homes, condos and the rest lining the hills from shore to ridge-top all around. The Royal Botanical Garden is a large affair, many acres, set on a finger of land jutting into the harbor, just east of the main CBD. Judging from the size of the trees, the Garden has been there for a while. We spent a couple hours marveling at species new to us and at familiar species in larger sizes and shapes than we'd ever seen before. The ficuses in particular are huge, a few spreading hundreds of feet across, with large aerial roots that become trunks. Then there were the cacti and succulents. And bamboos, and palms. And camellias. And a fernery with the largest tree ferns I have yet seen. And also fruit bats (grey-headed flying foxes...about the size of a large chicken). And on and on, a tropical plant lover's paradise. We had a light lunch at the Garden's restaurant, then continued to the harbor and Mrs. Macquarrie's Chair, a cliff over-looking the harbor. The center of Sydney harbor is a familiar site—the tall arch of the 1932 bridge, the Opera, the skyscrapers. One takes all this in from the cliffs.

(Aesthetic note: although the Sydney Opera is one of the world's great and distinctive architectural pieces—perhaps on anybody's top 10 list—I personally find it repulsive, qua opera house. Viewing it from different angles (e.g., the harbor ferry) only makes it worse. It reminds me of the Lotus Temple in Delhi).

From the Gardens we crossed to the Circular Quay, headquarters for the harbor ferry system, a beautiful shopping and restaurant area on the water. Next we walked on to the Rocks, the old city, not much gentrified, very atmospheric and proud of its history. We walked back to the Y mostly along George Street, the main drag, fine shops and hotels, stopping for dinner at a small restaurant where Vicki had a salad (also avoided in Asia) and I had fish and chips (fish with no bones!).

On Sunday we bought day-tripper tickets—a pass for all buses, metros, trains, and ferries in the city— $12USD per person. Sydney has it public transportation act together. The metro alone is more extensive than any US city's I know of, except NYC. We took the double-decker metro from the Y's nearby Museum station back to Circular Quay. From there we returned to the Rocks, strolled its wonderful market (it is the only artsy-craftsy market we have ever seen that has NO CRAP; only neat, imaginative, interesting stuff, most of it affordable), and stimulated the local economy. After a scones snack, we boarded the east-bound ferry, taking in the harbor scenery, many stops, the aforementioned coves and inlets, each with a marina and beach, all the way to Watson's Bay. Here we debarked and walked across the Gap, a few hundred feet, to the top of the cliffs overlooking Sydney harbor's narrow entrance, and, The Pacific. The views of the cliffs, the rocks below, the sea, sailboats evidently racing in the distance, were superb. I had not before seen the Pacific, well, the Tasman Sea perhaps, from this particular angle. It was impressive. We walked along the cliffs some distance, then back through the town to the wharf.

One of the Sydney harbor traditions, we were told, was taking the ferry to Watson's Bay and then having a meal at Doyles', a fairly legendary (and very large and popular) seafood restaurant on the water. We had been promising ourselves a real steak (CBA) for some months and had determined that Australia would be the place for it. The menu at Doyles' is almost entirely seafood—but Vicki had the one non-seafood item, a filet (and shared a few bites) while I had the seafood sampler. The surf and turf aspect thus required I sample both red and white Australian wines. The sauvignon blanc was excellent; the shiraz OK.

We re-barked and rode the ferry back west through the harbor, stopping at Luna Park, McMahon St., and Balmain East, a residential area, where we got off and strolled (and scavenged) a bit. Back on the ferry we rode to Darling Harbor, on the other side of the main CBD, and walked nearly its length of shops, restaurants, pubs, museums, the IMAX, and more. Sundown (note alpenglow on the buildings around Darling Harbor) found us taking the last ferry back to Circular Quay, then the metro back to the Y. Two wonderful tourist days.

I am still wondering what the downside of Sydney is. Cruising the harbor as we did, there was no evidence of ugliness. Even the old wharfs have been gentrified, converted to condos, etc. Surely there are poor neighborhoods and poor people. They are not easy for the casual tourist to find, however. Vicki observed that the downside, so far as we are concerned, is the cost of everything. 2U$D for a coke, at 7-11. 3$ for coffee anywhere. Our hotel room, at the YWCA, FCS, was our steepest such yet.

Monday we packed, breakfasted (the Y has great granola), metro'd back to the Rocks to pick up a few purchase items we liked, and then re-visited both the Royal Botanical Garden and the art museum, especially the contemporary Melanesian section. We walked back along the south side of Hyde Park, affording me the opportunity to visit the Cathedral. I now am reading Pillars of the Earth. Plus I really like visiting churches where you don't have to take your shoes off.

Australia. We seriously considered extending our stay here. In our earlier planning, we had decided to short-shrift Australia. New Zealand is more compact, more interesting to us. Australia is vast (and expensive), and the interesting bits, to us, are spread all over a continent. But we are already compiling a list of places to which we might like to return: China, especially western China, the Everest region (the Chinese side), Thailand. And now Australia. When we come back, perhaps we'll rent or buy a camper, and stay a while.

Vicki adds:

December 14—Sydney

We really enjoyed our last days in Bangkok—a very livable city, but too many shopping opportunities. The amount of clothing for sale boggles the imagination—even in a city of 12 million plus tourists, I don't see how they could ever sell half of it.

We had an overnight flight to Sydney and Mark and I each had a row to ourselves. I have been reading Myer's Twilight series and so didn't get much sleep, but I got a lot read. I've finished all four now and I can see why they have been so popular. My ebook has been on the fritz so that has been a disappointment. Hopefully, I can get it working again in New Zealand.

Sydney has been expensive but wonderful. Everything here is about double what costs were in Bangkok. Hotel with breakfast—Bk $46. Syd--$100. Coke $1 vs. $2 etc. However, still much less expensive than a US or European city. Also, many things here are free. We are staying in the YWCA Hotel which is very close in. Yesterday we walked to the harbor and back without too much travail. Sydney has a huge park right on the harbor next to the Opera House. Part of it is the Royal Botanical Garden and also the Art Museum. Both were free and we barely saw 10% of each. Today we bought an all day transport pass and took the metro to the Quay (pronounced key) and then two different ferries around the harbor to other areas. Only $12 each. We had scones and tea at The Rocks (oldest settled area) and visited the weekend market. Fabulous booths of unusual handicrafts. I picked out my two Christmas gifts and a gift for Rebecca. I could have bought dozens of different things.

I am sure Mark will elaborate in his blog on the rest of our day. Australia is definitely on our “return again” list. It would be a great place to rent a camper and travel around for a couple of months. Tomorrow afternoon we are off to Auckland.